Nonrenewable energy and industrial agriculture are the current paradigms of energy and food systems. However, innovations in energy and food systems are rapidly providing new opportunities for saving energy, generating renewable energy, and strengthening local food systems. Distributed renewable energy systems and local food systems both emphasize sustainability during extraction/harvesting, production/generation, and consumption, as well as local control, and the importance of relationships. Federal and state policies, financing options, cultural norms, and business offerings are increasing the availability of renewable energy and local food.

The local food movement reflects a growing preference for fresh, healthy food and direct connections with producers—and many Vermont businesses are stepping up to meet the demand. At the same time, Vermont’s food system businesses are already contributors to renewable energy generation: from the siting of large solar and wind projects on agricultural land, to agricultural and woodland crops, animal waste, and food scraps that are used as feedstocks for electricity, heat, and liquid fuel. Vermont’s food system consists of more than agricultural activities—large roofs at grocery stores and manufacturing facilities support solar installations, and several thousand buildings have made efficiency improvements.

The intersection of renewable energy systems and local food systems is fertile ground for developing sustainable solutions to pressing problems. Many food system businesses have already implemented energy saving and renewable energy producing technologies. But there is also the possibility of emerging conflicts over energy goals and food production goals. For example, many municipalities and Vermonters have expressed concern about the rapid development of larger solar PV installations around the state. Concerns have been raised about aesthetic issues, property values, development on agricultural and other land, and a perceived lack of sensitivity on the part of the Public Service Board during the Section 248 process that issues “certificates of public good” for energy generation projects. In response, a Solar Siting Task Force was created “to study the design, siting, and regulatory review of solar electric generation facilities and to provide a report in the form of proposed legislation with the rational for each proposal.”

How can we meet both Vermont’s food and energy goals? This section of the Farm to Plate Strategic Plan provides a foundation for

Resources

Strategies and Opportunities for Greater Local Food Procurement in Vermont Higher Education Food Service
Written by Jennie Porter
Institutions represent a unique opportunity in Vermont to increase access to local foods because they serve many meals a day to a wide range of people, and they can help to increase consumer awareness…

Written by Ellen Kahler
Vermont’s struggle to grow its workforce weakens our economy, inhibits the ability for Vermont businesses to expand their operations, and threatens the ability for Vermonters and future generations to grow and thrive here in the Green Mountains. An aging workforce, stagnant wages in jobs without career ladders,…

Written by Jake Claro
When you ask people their definition of the Vermont food economy, they’ll often talk about farms, farmers’ markets or CSAs. What’s often missing from the conversation are the supply chain of local businesses such as distributors, food processors and manufacturers, and seed, feed, and equipment dealers.
Vermont’s local…

Written by JJ Vandette
Fifteen years ago, Christa Alexander and Mark Fasching started selling the extra produce from their prolific vegetable garden. They invested in some chickens, then some livestock, some more land, and before they knew it they were farming full-time. Fast forward to today. Jericho Settlers Farm is a…

Take 5 is a series of 12 local food sourcing and merchandising training videos for Vermont retail stores to help increase local food sales. The Farm to Plate Independent Grocers Task Force launched the Take 5 series of five-seven minute training videos for convenience, general, grocery and other retail stores…

What is Rooted in Vermont?
Rooted in Vermont is a grassroots movement to increase consumer demand for local food. Rooted in Vermont is shifting the local food narrative on social media and in Vermont communities to be inclusive of the many ways Vermonters enjoy and acquire local food. Traditions like gardening,…

Gathering the Herd: A Vermont Meat Processing Case Study captures lessons learned over a three year period from the Farm to Plate Meat Processing Task Force through interviews conducted by Carrie Abels with members of the task force and industry leaders.
The Meat Processing Task Force within the Farm to Plate…

Written by Liz Gamache
Each spring, many Vermont sugar makers are already looking ahead to producing the next year’s crop and they may be considering what equipment upgrades they’ll need to save time, energy, and money next season.
With over 1500 maple sugar makers in the state, Vermont is the largest producer…

Vermonters enjoy local food and beverages in a variety of ways—growing or foraging their own, purchasing directly from a farmer or at the store, hunting or fishing, eating at schools and institutions serving local food, finding food from a community food shelf or the Vermont Foodbank, or just by trading…

Written by Rachel Carter
When choosing to purchase food, cost is often a deciding factor for consumers. Why buy a 12-ounce package of local bacon for $7.99 when you can get it for $4.98?
Purchasing local food means you know where your food comes from, you’re buying food that is generally healthier,…

Written by Judy Stermer
September is National Hunger Action Month, a time when food banks across the country work to mobilize the public to take action on the issue of hunger. But hunger in Vermont is a 365 day-a-year problem. In Vermont, the Foodbank provides food assistance to 153,000 Vermonters. Nearly…

Written by Tim Perrin
Beer matters in Vermont. Not only do we have more breweries per capita than any other state, we also consume 25 percent more beer than national average per capita. That’s not surprising -- if everyone else’s beer was as good as Vermont’s, they’d drink more of it…

Written by Laura Hardie, New England Dairy Promotion Board
Karie Thompson Atherton, 35, is the seventh generation to grow up on her family’s dairy farm in Berkshire, Vermont and always knew she wanted to continue the tradition of dairy farming.
“There's definitely easier ways to make a living, but none as fulfilling,"…

Written by Julie Smith, UVM Extension, Animal and Veterinary Sciences and Ted Ferris, MSU Extension, Animal Science
The first Vermont Breakfast on the Farm event gave consumers and farm neighbors a first-hand look at modern food production. Hosted by Nea-Tocht Farm in Ferrisburgh in August 2015, the event was organized and…

Written by Sarah Bhimani, City Market, Onion River Co-op
City Market, a community-owned food co-op in Burlington, VT, has a list of Global Ends that guides their business and all that they do. One of their Global Ends is “strengthening the local food system,” which is met through a myriad of…

Olivia’s Croutons has grown from a small, home kitchen operation—where 20 bags was a large order—to occupying an 8,000 square foot facility in a renovated barn in New Haven that ships to stores across the US. While the move to the new facility was prompted by a need for a…

Everyone in the Hardwick area knows the North Hardwick Dairy —“it’s the one on the hill with the wind turbine.”
The turbine is evidence of farmer Nick Meyer’s focus on meeting his goal of greater self-sufficiency. “I want to produce everything the farm needs on the farm.”
The higher and relatively stable…

At Maple Wind Farm in Huntington, the beef cattle “harvest their own feed,” as farmer Bruce Hennessey likes to say. They’re grass-fed cattle, meaning that for six and sometimes seven months of the year they eat grass on pasture, using their own energy to walk around and fatten themselves.
Bruce, who…

Monument Farms Dairy began in 1930 as a home delivery route run by Richard and Marjory James in the Weybridge area.
Today, the company is managed by their grandson Jon Rooney and two of his cousins, Bob James and Pete James. And their responsibilities are doled out equally, just as you’d…

Ayers Brook Goat Dairy’s new barn in Randolph, central Vermont, is designed to house 500 goats, including state-of-the-art facilities for milking, breeding, and for raising goats for the dairy and for the region’s goat farmers.
Photo: Aegis Renewable Energy